The current proposal is designed to evaluate placental metabolism in normal and intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) pregnancies in hopes of better understanding the disease so that we may find potential therapeutic measures. NMR spectroscopy is a powerful, non-invasive tool that can be applied to study intracellular metabolism in perfused in vitro and in vivo placentas. It will be used to evaluate energy and carbohydrate metabolism in normal and growth retarded placentas from humans and guinea pigs. Reactions to hypoxia and anoxia will be assessed. Glucose, alanine, and glycogen metabolism will be studied as well as the effects upon them by substances such as glucagon, thyroxine and ethanol. Tissue from different gestational ages will be studied to note changes in metabolic pathways and in intracellular sodium concentrations as a function of age. Our preliminary results suggest that NMR spectroscopy of the placenta is possible and there are distinct differences between placentas from different in utero environments as well as from early and late gestational ages. Duke University is currently an active NMR imaging center. It is developing a major NMR spectroscopy laboratory with recently acquired high field strength NMR spectrometers. With these and with and active High Risk Obstetrical division, the environment is ideal for Dr. Kay's career development in the field of NMR applications in Obstetrics and Gynecology.